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Abstract: The presenter brings 20 years of CALL experience to bear on traditional notions of how CALL is implemented and suggests alternative paradigms inherent in two development models he has been working with, one institutional and one on-line. Theoretical underpinnings are discussed and serendipitous outcomes shown for both approaches.

Here is an outline for the talk

The presenter wlll discuss the paradigms as delineated within this box while suggesting that we be thinking outside the box ...

How languages were taught before computers

Self introduction

• First teaching job at ELS
• UPM - Do cats have elbows

One teacher's solution to intrusions by inspectors checking to see if she was teaching the inauthentic dialogs:

Appearance of HP3000 / IDF Project:

• socratic dialog
• copy exercises from book to computer

Papert's Mindstorms

• Logo - sprites - precursor of Director / Flash
• analogy of shooting films in theater settings
• Seminal mindshift

The move into humanism

In early 80's

• Plato was the prevailing model - Mastery Learning, tutorials
• my research and development still on discrete point, treatment/control
• getting into text manipulation - attempted to draw texts from authentic sources

Three observations:

• At HPA, my ESL students interacted with Americans when they got stuck in computer room working on projects I'd assigned
• Teachers arriving in Oman with choice to use typewriters or computers invariably settled on the latter
• Business students at SQU when forced to hand in all assignments in Word Perfect taught each other

Tutor / Tool distinction

My chapter on humanism (1992)

presaged a tool based approach I would apply to the MLI

and also discussed talk that goes on between students in the vicinity of computers (same room)

In the early 90's I had a networked computer in my classroom and was organizing student work via linked text documents

• I would show students where texts and other 'teacher' materials could be found on computer
• This rattled colleagues who didn't want students to see these texts because they wanted to limit their exposure to them before class
• This is classic sage on the stage behavior, vs. the constructivist guide on the side

At the MLI, the CALL facility would include

• a software library
• scanners, printers, digital cameras
• computers on every teacher's desk and
• computer in every classroom
• all these connected through LAN with Internet
• students spend an hour a day at a computer in CALL labs

For CALL planning and implementation, a toolbased environment is analagous with a workshop

• Stock the workshop with tools and equipment
• Hire competent workmen
• Provide training where necessary
• It follows that the workmen will know/figure out what to do with the tools

Higgins: Authentic language is anything not created by a teacher for the purpose of teaching languages
At this time the Internet was revolutionizing access to language in ESL.materials

• Before computers it had not been possible to effectively store and retrieve significant amounts of authentic language
• The best handle we had on authentic language during this era was concordancing and text analysis --> Cobuild project
• WIth the Internet it has become possible for learners to access and utilize significant amounts of authentic language input

Serendipitous outcomes (examples)

• The core curriculum
• ERP and ...
• Teacher Central (LAN link only, not hyperlinked on Internet)

Continued here: Communities online